My cat will only eat squeezable cat treats

[ms2762]

My little guy is pretty old (16+) and takes several medications twice a day for congestive heart failure – which he just had a checkup for and the cardiologist said is pretty well controlled. He's been a pickier eater since the heart condition developed (and lost a lot of weight), but I thought we'd finally gotten him to a good place where he eats steadily twice a day (mainly canned food, which we mix meds into). Lately though allllll he wants is his Churu squeezy tube food (or other squeezy tubes). He seems to enjoy a bit of dry food too (although I'm not sure how he does this with his few, old-guy teeth! ). Honestly, I'll feed the poor old guy whatever he wants, I just want to make sure he's getting enough nutrition and calories (and keeps taking his meds). Is it bad to only feed him squeezy tubes? (Sometime he'll eat additional canned food if I mix them together.) He is also constantly interested in people food (I had to swat him away from my ice cream last night!).

 

[susanm9006]

There are some smooth, paste like cat foods that you might be able to water down more to the consistency of a squeeze tube - Nutro and Wellness brands both have pates with a very smooth consistency. Maybe you can reuse an empty tube or fashion something yourself so that he can lick the cat food from a tube.

 

[ms2762]

I’ll try those, thanks! And I half tried filling an old tube but didn’t take time to do it properly so may try it again. (Also tried a syringe, but he was not a fan.) I may try tossing the canned food with some water in a blender first.

 

[di and bob]

I would try mixing some treat into the wet food and see how that goes. Have you tried Delectable Lickables in the stew flavors? They are in the treat section too in a pouch, my cats go nuts for them and I give all their meds in it. There are several 'pouch' foods too, that are not treats. you might try them too.

 

[jencat]

Nulo and Tiki Cat both make mousse style cat food in pouches. Maybe your kitty would like those? The Made By Nacho pates that come in the boxes are also quite smooth.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, there might be something here - especially since he's interested in people food, you may find something he's able to eat in the list of different foods;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[lisahe]

Nulo and Tiki Cat both make mousse style cat food in pouches. Maybe your kitty would like those? The Made By Nacho pates that come in the boxes are also quite smooth.

Our cats love the Nulo chicken/duck mousse food. It's worth the relatively high price because it doesn't have any of their forbidden ingredients... plus they eat it!

 

[maggie101]

I give one of my cats orijen canned duck chicken with gravy and daves healthy and nutritious duck chicken in lots of gravy and only 40 cal so I mix in dr marty natures feast freeze dried raw. Expensive

 

[catwirk]

I was relieved to find this post. I've been worried that my 15-year-old hyperthyroid IBS cat with mild gingivitis (I forget what it's called in cats) and challenged kidneys only wants Churus and Greenies. I got the big variety pack yesterday and I guess she ate half a dozen of them yesterday. She is refusing to eat even her favorite canned chicken. I figure, at her age, with her health, she can eat what she wants. She actually lost 0.8 pound in the last month so I'm trying to get the weight back on her and not worried about her getting fat.

 

[Furballsmom]

There might be something in this thread;

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I was relieved to find this post. I've been worried that my 15-year-old hyperthyroid IBS cat with mild gingivitis (I forget what it's called in cats) and challenged kidneys only wants Churus and Greenies. I got the big variety pack yesterday and I guess she ate half a dozen of them yesterday. She is refusing to eat even her favorite canned chicken. I figure, at her age, with her health, she can eat what she wants. She actually lost 0.8 pound in the last month so I'm trying to get the weight back on her and not worried about her getting fat.

The problem with feeding ONLY these two items is that they are not 100% nutritionally complete . Don't get me wrong, I feed them too, as a treat only. But if you want to keep your girl as healthy as possible, she still needs to eat cat food along with the treats. Perhaps you can either mix the Churus with her regular food, or crush some of the Greenies and sprinkle on top?

I know from experience that kidney cats often lose their appetites, so keep trying, and try different foods, often. You might also need to get an appetite stimulant. We did for our kidney cats.

 

[Alldara]

When Lily wouldn't eat anything other than Churu we tried with fairly good luck:
- Mother and Babycat wet and dry food from Royal Canin (I would pop these through a blender and let her lick off a spoon or outside of syringe)
- Stella and Chewy's freeze dried morsels

And then, I hope you don't take offense, but I did find learning about the dying process helpful. Congestive heart failure we all know is something that isn't curable. I began following some palliative care nurses on social media when I was loosing Lily and some family members and knowing the process and knowing what to expect was comforting because it helped me to set my expectations. One thing I learned is that as the body shuts down from disease many beings begin to loose their appetite; they may stop eating all together. The dying body cannot handle as much food.